(Info) Employment Sources in Bundelkhand

Bundelkhand

Employment

Employment Sources in Bundelkhand

MP Bundelkhand and UP Bundelkhand rank among the least developed regions of
either state, with low industrialisation and low urbanisation. Agriculture is
the predominant occupation in Bundelkhand. As the table below shows, according
to Census 2001, percentage of main workers engaged in agriculture, as
cultivators or labourers, was higher than 60, and much higher than state and
national averages, in all districts of Bundelkhand except Jhansi, Damoh and
Sagar.

(Census 2001 defined a 'main worker' as one who had worked for the major part
of six months or more in the year preceding the census household survey. 'Work'
was defined as 'participation in any economically productive activity', with or
without compensation.)

Percentage-wise breakup of main workers (Census 1991, 2001)

District

Cultivation

Agri labour

Household industry

Other work

1991

2001

1991

2001

1991

2001

1991

2001

Jhansi

46.1

44.6

16

10.6

5.1

5.5

32.7

39.3

Lalitpur

70.9

68.5

10.5

7

2.3

2.8

16.4

20.7

Jalaun

54.8

50.6

23.6

18.9

2

3.4

19.5

26.4

Hamirpur

50.6

50

31.1

22.2

3

3

15.3

24.5

Mahoba

H

54.4

H

17.7

H

3

H

23.5

Banda

59.2

54.6

26.7

20.4

2.4

3

11.8

21.4

Chitrakoot

B

66.2

B

18.4

B

2.4

B

12

Datia

63

63.3

12.9

11.5

2.5

1.8

21.7

23

Chhatarpur

59.6

59.6

20.6

12.7

3.7

3.6

16.1

23.6

Tikamgarh

73.4

68.9

11.9

9.6

2.8

3

12

18.2

Panna

55.4

53.6

27

21.5

3.2

2.7

14.3

20.6

Damoh

36.1

32.8

26

24.4

15.5

20.1

22.3

22.7

Sagar

32.6

30.3

22.6

20.9

20.7

21

24

27.5

UP average

47

15.1

5.3

32.6

MP average

46.6

20.3

3.8

29.2

India average

33.9

20.3

3.9

42.7

Note: As figures are rounded off to nearest '000 while calculating
percentages, totals of years do not add up to 100. H= was part of Hamirpur
district. B= was part of Banda district.

While agriculture is the mainstay of Bundelkhand's economy, conditions are
unfavourable for growth of cash crops like sugarcane and cotton. Productivity is
affected by the poor water retention ability of the soil, weather fluctuations
and large amount of wasteland. Rising input costs and frequent incidence of
drought are pushing agricultural labourers and small farmers out of agriculture.

The majority of rural households in most parts of Bundelkhand rely on income
from local or inter-state, annual or seasonal or migration for work.

Increased migration and increased use of tractors (hired or owned) would
account for the significant reduction in the percentage of agriculture labourers
between 1991 and 2001 in Jhansi, Hamirpur+ Mahoba, Banda+Chitrakoot , Chhatarpur
and Panna, seen in the table.

Only in Jhansi district was the percentage of main workers engaged in 'other
work' close to the national average. ('Other work' includes working in
government service, private sector factories, small industrial units, and
businesses engaged in trading or service sector activities. 'Other work' also
includes working as labour in stone quarries).

Manufacturing, followed by trade, construction, employment in government,
education and transport accounts for highest percentage of main workers engaged
in 'other work' in the region (see Breakup of Non-agricultural Main Workers in
Bundelkhand).

The high percentage of household industry workers in Damoh and Sagar is due
to the beedi industry.

Till the end of 2008 there were only two large manufacturing units in the
entire region. No small or cottage industry in the region commanded a large
market outside. The potential of tourism had not been well realised. Service
industry was limited to pockets.

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